Kendra Meinert column: For one night only, it was JBJ and BMG

PMI Entertainment Group President and CEO Ken Wachter, second from right, presented Bon Jovi members David Bryan, from left, Jon Bon Jovi and Tico Torres with a Green Bay Packers jersey to mark their first-ever concert in Green Bay last week at the Resch Center.

There was a moment last week when the guys in Blue Man Group were surprised to see Jon Bon Jovi in the same undisclosed Green Bay-area hotel they were checking into.

Sounds like the kind of intersecting star power that might happen in a hotel lobby on the Strip in Las Vegas, where celebrity run-ins are a daily occurrence and there are dozens of big shows on any given night. But to have both BMG and JBJ in GB, not only during the same week, but on the same evening, well, that was kind of OMG!, don't you think?

For that one night last week, we could thumb our collective noses at all those big-city types from afar who think football is the only game in town and say, "Yeah, that's right, Bon Jovi and Blue Man Group are playing our city tonight. Choices, choices ... Just your typical Tuesday in Titletown.''

More than 9,200 fans caught Bon Jovi at the Resch Center and another 4,500 took in Blue Man Group's three-night run at the Weidner Center. Behind the scenes, of course, the year-round rock stars - the Green Bay Packers - factored in.

Blue Man Group had an opportunity to meet Coach Mike McCarthy, and Jon Bon Jovi, a big football fan and former AFL team owner, spent some time at Lambeau Field on Monday getting a private tour set up by the Resch's PMI Enertainment Group.

The band had played Lincoln, Neb., on Sunday, Oct. 20, and arrived in Green Bay either late that night or Monday, said PMI President and CEO Ken Wachter. The tour's trucks and buses arrived at the Resch on Monday. Jon Bon Jovi took advantage of the day off to check out the stadium, posing for a pair of photos - one on the field and another taken at night in front of the lighted atrium - that are posted and available for sale on the band's website.

"I think he enjoyed himself in Green Bay. ... His comment to me was, 'Thanks for having us.' It's really nice to hear when people say that,'' said Wachter who presented Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan and durmmer Tico Torres with a No. 1 Packers jersey backstage at the Resch. PMI also presented a check for a $1,000 donation to the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which works with communities to help break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.

"We always try to do something for the acts that come, whether it be a jersey or, for some acts, we've done Packers stock,'' Wachter said. "But a lot of times we just make a donation to the charity they support on behalf of PMI and the Resch Center.''

The Resch was stop No. 87 or 88 on the band's current tour, and Wachter says with veteran acts like Bon Jovi, who have been touring for 30 years, everything about the road production is "a fine-tuned machine.''

Wachter was able to steal away a couple of hours before the band took the stage to walk through the neighboring sports bars in the Lambeau Field entertainment district. Every one of them packed.

"It sort of created a Packers Sunday on a Tuesday night in Green Bay. That was fun to see. We want the Resch to generate business for our partners in the neighborhood, and I think it really did that,'' he said. "It wasn't just a normal night in Ashwaubenon.''

Nor was it just a normal concert for the Resch. Bon Jovi's first-ever performance in Green Bay also proved to be the highest-grossing show the venue has ever hosted, Wachter said.

The excitement of being able to cross another A-list act off the Resch wish list does beg a certain question: Who's next?

"You're not the first person who has asked that,'' Wachter said, laughing.

PMI has offers out on several major acts for next year, he said. He's keeping an eye on the Zac Brown Band, who will tour in 2014. The group has played the Meyer Theatre, Lambeau Field and opened for Keith Urban at the Resch Center, but never headlined the arena.

It doesn't hurt to be able to New Jersey namedrop as PMI pursues future acts.

"I really believe having Bon Jovi in our building and doing as well as he did helps us with other bigger acts who think, 'Oh, we can go to Green Bay and generate enough ticket sales and revenue, and the costs are in line, to go there and play.'''

Speaking of leaving a positive impression, Blue Man Group might have made an awesome mess on stage at the Weidner Center for three nights running, but they left it every bit as clean as they found it.

"Despite all the blue paint, paper streamers and 240 pounds of bananas they used, Blue Man Group left the Weidner surprisingly tidy,'' said Kate Green, executive director of the performing arts center.

That sounds like the kind of behavior that could get you invited back someday.

Concert news

» It'll be her second visit of the year when Caroline Smith returns Nov. 16 to the Meyer Theatre as the latest Near Water Concert Series headliner. The singer/songwriter who got her start on the Minneapolis music scene as a folk artist and has moved into neo-soul and R&B territory with her new "Half About Being a Woman'' album played the theater in July with Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. She's coming back as part of a two-week swing of her own dates in the Midwest.

General-admission tickets are on sale for $15 at Ticket Star, (800) 895-0071 and ticketstaronline.com.

» Ready, set, cancel. The Ready Set concert on Nov. 9 at the Riverside Ballroom has been canceled due to a scheduling conflict. Tickets purchased via Ticket Star will be automatically refunded. Those purchased at the Riverside box office should be returned there for a refund.

Gigs

» Kavarna, 143 N. Broadway, Green Bay, kicks off Native American Heritage Month with a double bill on Friday night that features Wade Fernandez, Oneida, and Mitch Walking Elk, St. Paul, Minn., who will perform separately and together as they warm up for a joint European tour later this month. Music starts at 7 p.m.

» Comedian Jason Hillman, part of Milwaukee's Castle of Killers comedy collective, plays the Vroom Vroom Comedy Room, 614 George St., De Pere, at 8:15 p.m. Nov. 9. Cover is $3. The venue features comedians from around the state the second Saturday of each month.

» Over at De Pere's other funny room, The Green Room Lounge, 353 Main Ave., November's First Friday Midnight-ish Movie is "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'' at 11:30 p.m. Friday. ComedyCity hosts the freebie showing of the 2004 original. The sequel arrives in theaters in December, and those very funny Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy for Dodge commercials are airing now.

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Kendra Meinert column: For one night only, it was JBJ and BMG

There was a moment last week when the guys in Blue Man Group were surprised to see Jon Bon Jovi in the same undisclosed Green Bay-area hotel they were checking into.

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